Fun in the sun!

Finally got the kids out in their kayak's!!

We borrowed one from our neighbor's down

the road for Dale, so that he could go too.

It sure didn't take them long to start zipping around

the lake.

Having fun on Douglas Lake.

Dale cruising along.

 Darby chasing a Loon.

Darby decided that he wanted to swim so he bailed out of

his kayak. Then when Dale brought the kayak to shore

Darby got back in, only to paddle out and

jump back in the water!

He did this multiple times.

Breanna was sooooo over it in no time!

12 year old moodiness took over

at this point.

We had a good time.

Maybe we'll get to go back out before it

gets to cold to be in the lake.

Hope everyone is having a great summer :)

Riding with Bre

Well it's been an exciting month.

Breanna was out riding a lot.

Notice how I say WAS!!!

Well she and Quiet we're having

issues, he realized  she isn't a strong rider 

and

she realized he wouldn't listen to her.

So she gave up in a way.

I wasn't having that! Being the mean mom

I am I made her get back on!

Well after another bad experience on 

Quiet the jerk! (LOL)

She was told to start riding a different horse.

(Breanna and Que)

(don't think I spelled her name right)

And now she's happy again.

" I like mares Mom, boys suck!"

So guess what...

Now I get to ride Quiet.

(he has paint on his nose)

I personally am not impressed by the way I look on him.

We both have a few pounds to lose!

This is the first time I've been on a horse in 7 or 8 years.

Needless to say I did have an

OH CRAP!

moment while out, but all's good now.

But it's all worth it to see this face.

Learning to lope.

(Riding in Home Meadow)

So much fun. Can hardly wait to see what she'll do next.

If only you could see her... next time I go out with them 

I'll bring the video camera. 

And maybe you'll have a similar goofy smile, like

the one I feel plastered to my face everytime

I watch her ride.

Saddle Up!!

Breanna has been making and

selling her handmade jewlery

for awhile now in hopes of

buying a horse.

Well we talked her outta that

and strongly suggested that

she get horse tack first, horse later.

So she took her hard earned money

and bought a saddle.

(the day it arrived)

Sooooo exciting! Almost as good as x-mas.

Of course it's her favorite color

PURPLE!!

It didn't come with everything needed

to start riding, a few key pieces were missing

but the people on this ranch are amazing

and set her up with what she didn't have.

She is so happy when she's riding, and in turn

make Dale and I super happy!

(Breanna and Quiet)

Unfortunately for us we have recently found out

that it's not a good saddle for her and now have 

to sell it to get her a better one.

But once again the wonderful people around

us have come through for her again.

She has been loaned a saddle that's better

for her. And my baby girl is happy 

once more.

What more could a parent ask for?

Now if only we could find Darby something 

that makes him as happy as his sister!

Little Gardens- veggie

Well we kinda gave up on the

Veggie garden... for this year anyway.

The weeds were just to much to 

handle.

So we took up all the carrots,

and what a haul they turned out to be.

(Farmer Dale)

It ended up being a lot more than 

we thought we'd get.

So one of our neighbors gladly took

some off our hands.

This is one of our turnips.

After Dale hauled it out, he decided to

wait till the end of this month to riff the rest out.

We also got a small head of lettuce.

Noticing how crowed the lettuce bed

was, I thinned it out and we're gonna wait 

and see if we'll get anymore.

NEXT year, I think we'll be better prepared for

all the work... I hope!

Summer Fun!!

Grandma and GrandBob

gave the kids inflatable kayak's

as passing gifts this year!!

So Cool!!!

Then wonderful Grams took the

children home to Alberta 

with her for three weeks!!

So here Dale and I are looking at these

boxes with kayaks in them...

We decided that as good parents

we should check them out for safety.

First Dale had to blow them up for inspection.

They turned out to be much bigger than expected.

Now that Dale had this done, we said

Looks good... but are they water safe???

(hehehehe)

Salmon Lake

Just in case we needed a rescue, we headed up to 

Salmon Lake resort. 

Needless to say we gave the staff a few chuckles

when they saw us heading down to the lake carring

these kayaks.

Getting in proved to be challenging!

I personally was frighten after watching Dale

climb in. Thought for sure one of us was going for a 

cold swim!

He's in! 

And floating away!

Thumbs Up!!

So there I am standing on the dock... changing my mind

about the whole idea of going out there, when I'm told to 

put the camera away and get in...

All in all it was fun and quite a workout!

Not so sure how the kids will make out, but I guess

we'll have to wait and see.

Yummy Treats

Home made treats are really the best!

Dale has been making beef jerky

for about a year now, and it's 

sooooooo good!

So for Father's Day he bought 

himself a pepperoni kit.

Holy cow!!

It's delicious!

He's made it a couple times now and

it just keeps getting better.

It's a freaking cocking gun you stuff 

meat in... crazy!

The casing was a little tricky at first,

but he's got it down pat now.

Now the fun part!

Squeezing the meat into the casing!

Darby liked this part the best I think.

hmmmmmm...

This is what we got out of 1lbs of 

ground beef.

It sits over night then after 2 hours in the

smoker it's ready to eat!!

And it's so worth the wait.

Never again will we buy pepperoni.

I wonder what Dale will put in the smoker next.

Diffidently the best gift mom and dad

ever gave us. I think we might have to 

invest in a bigger one if Dale keeps finding

new stuff to make though.

Little Gardens- veggie

Well...

Our dreams of a fabulous veggie garden

are slowly drifting away.

*sniff,sniff* tear :(

We haven't really had the time to 

devote to it. And it shows.

I'd post a picture....

but I'm to embarrassed by the amount of

WEEDS!!!

On the up side, we have harvested 

a pile of spinach.

I think we've made a least 5 cuts

of it so far. And it's delicious.

The carrots are the only other veggie we might

have any luck with.

I pulled one just to see how they were

doing. Looks pretty good so far.

Dale being a ham about it!

But when we pulled a purple carrot today

it was Orange!!

Curious...

Maybe they don't turn purple till they're 

bigger... just have to wait and see.

Makes me wonder how everyone elses

gardens are doing???